Let's Cook: Trini Stewed Chicken!

This dish is full of Caribbean flavor and can be made with minimal effort. It's the perfect stewed chicken dish.

In comparison to other stews, Trinidadian stew chicken is particularly distinctive. There are different variations, but in my simple recipe, pieces of chicken are first fried in a small quantity of "burnt" sugar, and the taste is then increased with fresh herbs, garlic, tomato, a little bit of ginger, and pimento, habanero, or another spicy pepper.

My husband said this was the sweetest Stew Chicken he's ever tasted. Thank you! –Janelle Hummer

One of our all-time favorite chicken dishes is stew. You may tell you are a Trini (a Trinidadian) if you prepare stewed or curried chicken when you don't know what else to make.

This delectable, flavorful stew chicken can be made in a matter of minutes. No other chicken dish offers such a nuanced and rewarding experience with the meat in Trinidad.

Let's Cook: Trini Stewed Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 pounds chicken cut into 2-inch pieces

• 1/2 Pouch of Greenmills Green Seasoning (Garlic, Chive, Celery, Ginger and Pimento Peppers)

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 5 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 scallions – about 1 cup chopped scallion

• 1/2 onion small

• 1 plum tomato chopped (optional)

• 1 tablespoon grated ginger grated, optional

• 4 tablespoons ketchup optional

• 1 tablespoon bandhania minced

• 2 pimento peppers and/or habanero pepper to taste (optional)

• 2 tsp Salt to taste

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. Prep: Wash chicken with the juice of one lemon, lime or vinegar and water, rubbing to remove slime, also remove excess skin, fat. Wash a second time with plain water. Drain well. Chicken can be seasoned ahead of time with Greenmills Green Seasoning.

2. In a large pot over medium heat, add oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add sugar and allow it to bubble, froth, expand and darken. Do not allow it to smoke and get black. This is the same technique I used with the pelau and stewed lamb.

3. Add chicken and listen to it sing in the pot! Immediately raise the heat to high and stir continuously to coat with the brown sugar, about 2 minutes.

4. If chicken was not pre-seasoned, now add scallion, onion, garlic, tomato(optional), ginger(optional), thyme, pimento pepper, hot pepper-if using, salt and black pepper, ketchup and cook 1-2 minutes more while stirring. Also add potatoes and cooked peas now if using.

5. Cook for 15-20 minutes, covered, over medium high heat (chicken will release it’s juices), stirring occasionally, every 5 minutes, until liquid has evaporated.

6. After the liquid has evaporated, continue to cook for a few seconds to allow flavours to develop, stirring continuously to prevent sticking.

7. Add one cup of water, more if you like lots of "sauce". Cover and cook an additional 10-15 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and tender (but not shredding), turning gently once or twice, and the sauce has thickened to your desired consistency.

8. Taste and add more salt and pepper if required. For this dish, I added a total of two teaspoons Himalayan salt but amounts may vary depending on the type of salt you use.

9. Serve hot preferably over rice with stewed beans, callaloo or dhal and your favorite salad. If you feel like it add some fried plantains, wash it down with a cold glass of mauby, sorrel or home-made lemonade.